[Proof of Concept] Build Your Skill

[wildweasel]

Have just updated the mod again tonight, for two major updates.

- Kyle873 has helped me reimplement the "charge" bar on screen, where it now behaves like it really should have in the first place. He also helped me implement an experience bar.

- The medical kit system is now in place! Medipatches (stimpacks) heal smaller amounts of health at a slower rate, while Super Medipatches (Medikits) heal more health at a slightly faster rate.

- To tie in with this, there is now a Medical Skill level. Higher medical skill levels will cause both kinds of Medipatches to heal more health at a faster rate. Until you get those leveled up...you might want to find a place to hide while you're recovering those valuable hit points. Or you can use your water bottle if you need a quick fix right now.

- I'm probably not going to let the water bottle fill from water flats...because reasons. =P

[twinkieman93]

I actually really, really, REALLY don't like the trigger pull bar... it's right under my crosshair and blocks the view of my target. Furthermore, it sort of makes it feel very... inorganic. Like I'm not taking so long to pull the trigger because I'm a scrubby nub with no gun experience, I'm not pulling the trigger because this giant blue bar hasn't filled up. I'm not sure I enjoy the experience bar either, for similar reasons. It ruins the natural feel of it all. I think I'll just comment them out of the ACS.

EDIT: Annnd I can't compile it because there hasn't been an up to date version of ACC on drdteam's page since 2012, and I don't know how to github. Crap.

[wildweasel]

Redownload the mod, as I have just hotfixed the location of the trigger pull bar, as well as fixing a bug that occurs if you leave a level while being Medipatched.

[Slax]

Any possibility of something like "snatching the trigger"? Big ol' twitch and then BANG.

Here are some thoughts.
Weapon familiarity: Skill floor, different for each weapon. Goes up and stays up. Slow, steady, reliable.
Readiness: Goes up, goes down. Heavy action and you'll be more steady. A lot of downtime and you won't be as effective. Full-auto will likely be easier with high tension.
(Max) Precision: Damage potential and accuracy. Goes down with heavy action. (Adrenaline's a bitch). Trained over time, allows you to be a more effective marksman.
And then we have stuff like know-how. Find an operating manual for your ol' gun and you might just be more effective with it. Who knew?!

There's really no end to what kind of depth you could come up with with this system.

...so why don't I dream up some more stuff?!

Classes! More stats! Different specializations and affinities.
Physique: A well honed body for a well honed hellscape. Natural damage resistance and perhaps a weight vs. strength thing. Lugging around a large arsenal will likely slow you down so you better keep your strength up. Goes up with time and effort. Hmm. Should possibly affect healing rate as well. Big, buff body heals slower? Faster? A balance thing. Should probably help with recoil handling too. Obviously affects melee damage.
Wit: Mr. Stupid brawny man won't pick things up as quick as a Smarty McSmartsalot. Smartypants might just find a way to work around his weaknesses a lot quicker. Affects learning rate. Should probably raise very slowly.

Mentats and Berserk packs. Yummy, boosting drugs.

And then the classes...

One-Hander: In school they wanted this lefty to write with his right hand. Blasphemy! He defied them, with a vengeance! His left hand became prominently dominant while righty just kinda got left behind. Left hand actions (whatever they may be) are quicker while right hand ones take more time.
Big game hunter: One shot, one kill. Killing's a sport. A precision sport! Full auto is for silly babies who can't place a shot right in the heart. Start with higher proficiency in semi-automatics and a big boost to Precision while feeling a distinct disdain for anything more... military.
Buckaroo: If it spreads, you're dead. Dude likes his combat loads. Shotgun spread goes down with weapon proficiency while damage goes up slightly. Dude's got a knack for firing in full auto as well.

You know, stuff like that.

[zrrion the insect]

Are there any plans for melee skill? I like being able to hit things and save on ammo when I can, but when I do that, I don't gain experience like I would have if I had fired my gun.

[twinkieman93]

I dunno, guys... a lot of these suggestions, while providing depth I would definitely find entertaining, might run this mod towards Doom RPG's direction. And by that, I mean the HUD will be a cluttered mess of numbers and bars and icons and... bah! Unless this all gets shoved away into a menu like how Strife does it, I'm not sure so many things to keep track of will be such a great idea...

And then I have an idea which would add to the clutter. Kinda. See, an untrained civilian who had never handled a gun before might find it difficult to remember how many bullets/shells he has in his weapon in the heat of the moment. So, at low gun skill levels, the amount of ammo in your weapon will not be on your screen unless you're reloading the weapon. As you level up, it changes so that you get a vague idea of how many rounds are in your weapon. There will be some kinda icon that tells you whether your gun is full, mostly full, half full/empty(I don't discriminate!), mostly empty, or empty. Finally, at higher levels, you get an exact readout of the ammo in your magazine/tube, just like how it is now.

That one's a bit of a stretch, I suppose.

[Slax]

Might as well add a bit more... complexity. Some more time to shave off.

Some checks.
Weapon loaded? No? Click and nothing happens.
Weapon cocked? Yes? Click -> Weapon loaded? No? *click* (Blablabla double-action, single-action bla bla.)
Saaafety on? Ok, that's just overkill.

Hold fire to get your finger on the trigger. Current "charging" sound plays whenever that's done. Hold longer to steady your piece. (Another sound should probably play to signify that you're fully ready. Release to fire, alt fire to cancel. Holding too long will make your aim wobble.) Releasing before fully charged nets a snap shot. More twitchy, more recoil, less accuracy. Sometimes you just need to chance it. Having to fully steady your gun before blasting in close quarters doesn't make much sense, and it's very dangerous.
Weapon stays steadied for a while if you let it charge all the way. Easier/Quicker follow-up shots.

[HexaDoken]

If you refill the water bottle from the ground, you receive a bottle of suspicious looking water, which has a chance to accidently poison your when you drink it(deducts 40-50 hp some time after you drink it).

Because dirty water.

Also because being able to freely refill from the ground is pretty damn OP.

[wildweasel]

So, if anybody is having trouble making enough medical experience to make the medipatches worth using, don't worry, so do I. I plan on changing the way medical skills are gained (per HP instead of per kit) and fixing up the heal loop a bit.

[Kyle873]

I dunno, guys... a lot of these suggestions, while providing depth I would definitely find entertaining, might run this mod towards Doom RPG's direction. And by that, I mean the HUD will be a cluttered mess of numbers and bars and icons and... bah!

And here's me thinking my new HUD solved the screen clutter problem.

Whatever, can't please everyone I guess.

[twinkieman93]

Sorry, I haven't actually looked at your mod in a long time because of how cluttered it was. ^^u I'll go give it a look I guess.

[edward850]

[Big C]

Why am I laughing so hard?

[NuroGL]

Game crashes when I die, otherwise nice mod m8

[Crudux Cruo]

This in an excellent proof of concept and it seems to work flawlessly in that regard...

if this was ever to become something different, i suggest:

1.) Each weapon slot has its own skill gadge. for a single set of weapons, it means that you actually have to become familiar with the weapon, which i think would greatly add to immersion.
2.) Each weapon slot would have a high skill weapon that begins to become viable after say... oh skill level 50.
3.) low skill weapons would be more simple, making more sense. for instance, the starting pistol would be a revolver, then a military pistol.


anyhow thats my 2 cents, i would love for a skill based rpg type mod to show up, this seems like a good start.